Considering a job in Columbia and someone had recommended Lake Murray. So far, the only negatives I have read are that it can get crowded and, since it is inland, the wind can be unreliable/gusty. Anybody sail on Lake Murray?

I've heard it's a nice place to sail when there is wind due to its shape. In SC win can be dissppinting in the summer but there is always a couple windy weekends. Much more action in the oter seasons. There is a few cats there, I am not aware of any racing though. There is cat racing on hartwell, Lanier, and keowee which are not too far away.

Check out lake Marion and Multrie. There are also several other lakes that are a little ways outside of columbia that are less crowded. If you can make it out during the week at some of these places you will see very little boat traffic.

Thanks--when doing a search for Lake Marion and Lake Moultrie, I pulled up a number of articles about large gators caught on these lakes. Given the amount of time I spend righting my cat, not sure how I would feel about sailing there.

I paddle there without any problems and some of the areas the are very gators friendly. The areas that are very gator friendly you wouldn't be able to sail anyways because of weeds and stumps in shallow water. I recently held a kayak fishing club event on lake Moultrie in an area that has a ton of gators and one several months before in the cypress swamps of lake Marion. Gators are a part of life down here. Instead of researching the numbers of gators harvested look at the number of gator attacks that have been documented. I think that will help put your worries to rest. It stands true that they are more often scared of us than we should be of them.